First Major Book about The Cranberries to be Published by Hot Press and Signed by the Band

Culture
05 Aug 21

There hasn’t yet been a career-covering book about the extraordinary life and times of Dolores O’Riordan and the band she fronted, The Cranberries. All of that is about to change, as Hot Press launches the pre-sale of WHY CAN’T WE? – The Story Of The Cranberries and the band’s iconic front-woman Dolores O’Riordan (As Told Through The Pages Of Hot Press). The book will come in two formats – and, with limited editions in the mix, and the opportunity to be listed as an Executive Producer, the time to make your purchase is now!

Hot Press Books is delighted to announce the publication of WHY CAN’T WE? – The Story Of The Cranberries and the band’s iconic frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan (As Told Through The Pages Of Hot Press). This unique book, including a limited edition format signed by band members Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergal Lawler, and on behalf of Dolores O’Riordan, by her mother Eileen, goes on pre-sale today.

Fully supported by The Cranberries and by the estate of Dolores O’Riordan, Why Can’t We? documents the birth and extraordinary rise of a band that made a city – indeed the entire county of Limerick, in the southern part of Ireland – proud, and through such instantly recognisable hits as ‘Linger’, ‘Dreams’, ‘Zombie’ and ‘Ode To My Family’ helped to soundtrack the lives and loves of millions of people all over the world.

Curated by Stuart Clark, Why Can’t We? will be published by Hot Press Books in two formats, the Deluxe Platinum Limited Edition; and the Special Gold Edition.

SIGNED BY THE BAND
The large format Deluxe Platinum Limited Edition, of which there will only ever be 1,000 copies, will be personally signed by individual members of The Cranberries, Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan and Fergal Lawler, as well as by Eileen O’Riordan – Dolores’ mother – who will sign specially on Dolores’ behalf, for those lucky enough to secure a copy of what will doubtless become a hugely prized item of future-proof Cranberries collectors’ memorabilia.

Every pre-purchaser of this very special edition will have their name included in the book as an Executive Producer.

The books are now on pre-sale at shop.hotpress.com

Told from an insiders’ perspective, in a powerful ‘as-it-happened’ style, by Hot Press – along with the band and their inner circle – it’s an odds-defying story that brings the music, the characters and the events together brilliantly, in a roller-coaster narrative.

Along the way there were superb solo adventures undertaken by Dolores and side projects involving Noel. There was also fun, friendship, triumph, adversity, controversy and, ultimately, the gut-wrenching tragedy of Dolores’ sad death on January 15th, 2018 in London.

“We covered every step of The Cranberries’ – and Dolores’ – journey in Hot Press,” editor Niall Stokes said. “The magazine has always enjoyed a very close, personal working relationship with The Cranberries crew. It is fantastic that this will now be immortalised in Why Can’t We?, with the full support of the band and of Dolores’ estate. Fans can rest assured: it is going to be an extraordinary and very beautiful, must-have book.”

Why Can’t We? can now be secured by ordering directly from Hot Press – with the large format Deluxe Platinum Limited Edition being especially sought-after.

Welcoming today’s announcement, Noel Hogan of The Cranberries said: “Stuart Clark wrote the first press release that we ever did, as The Cranberry Saw Us, so it will be great to see his name on what promises to be an absolutely brilliant, blow-by-blow account of the incredible adventure we embarked on, all those years ago. We’ve always had a fantastic relationship with Hot Press, so I think fans are going to really relish re-living all of the highs, as well as the sadness and the pain, as told through the pages of the magazine.”

Fergal Lawler adds: “I think fans are going to love Why Can’t We? Stuart Clark and Hot Press were there from the very start with the band, and Dolores was such a great interviewee. It is a fantastic way of remembering her, and of celebrating the music that was her life’s work.”

Dolores’ mother Eileen said: “This is a unique and fascinating way to tell the story of the band, and of Dolores’ solo musical exploits. I think she would be delighted with it.”

FULLY UP-TO-DATE
The Deputy Editor of Hot Press, Stuart Clark was an ally and confidante of the band, going back to their earliest Limerick days and offers his own candid insights into the people and the personalities – and into how The Cranberries became one of the biggest bands on the planet.

“We launched Hot Press in 1977 to give voice to the emerging new Ireland, and especially to musicians and bands,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes added. “We were able to contribute to the extraordinary wave of change that has transformed Irish society. Nothing, however, could have prepared any of us for the huge upheaval of the past 18 months – and in Hot Press, we have had to reinvent ourselves in what is a very different climate, by doing completely new things.

“Why Can’t We? – published with the support and involvement of The Cranberries and of Dolores’ estate – is part of that reinvention, so everyone who buys it is also supporting both the magazine and the mission which inspired us all from the get-go: to give Irish musicians and artists an enduring voice on the international stage.”

Brought fully up-to-date with exclusive new material, including contributions from Michael Stipe, Simon Le Bon, Stephen Street, award-winning author Kevin Barry, Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, ‘Linger’ video director Melodie McDaniel and Dolores’ boyfriend and collaborator in the band D.A.R.K., Olé Koretsky, Why Can’t We – The Story Of The Cranberries and the Band’s Iconic Front-woman Dolores O’Riordan (As Told Through The Pages Of Hot Press) is available to pre-order now in two exciting formats:

Special Gold Edition:

Deluxe Platinum Limited Edition Package:

THE BACKGROUND
U2 was the biggest band in the world when, on November 18th, 1989, a band calling themselves The Cranberry Saw Us played their first live gig in the Flag Café, on Limerick’s Broad Street. As the troubled 1980s ground towards an end, the likelihood of four indie kids from a provincial Irish city joining the chart-topping, globe-trotting band from the Northside of Dublin on the global stadium circuit hovered somewhere between zero and none. What happened over the next thirty years is one of the great rags to riches rock ‘n’ roll stories.

As the entertainment man at the Limerick Tribune newspaper, and presenter of the Radio Limerick One rock show, Stuart Clark was there to witness the birth of The Cranberries. He wrote the band’s first press release for which he received a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in return; conducted their first print interview; and was in the DJ hot seat for Dolores O’Riordan and Noel Hogan’s broadcasting debut. One of those press releases, and the demo tape of songs it accompanied, found its way to Hot Press who also became early champions of The Cranberries and offered Stuart a job.

Recalling the eager 18-year-old he first met just after she’d left school, Stuart says: “Dolores O’Riordan was smart, loving, loyal, dedicated and as funny as f*ck. Hers was a truly unique and special talent. Alongside her three brothers-in-arms in The Cranberries, Ferg, Mike and Noel, she gave Limerick what it had always craved – a world-beater of a band who proudly represented the city wherever they roamed.

“From my conversations with her,” he adds, “I’m not sure that Dolores ever fully appreciated how much she was loved locally and indeed abroad – or how many people she inspired to express their own innermost personal thoughts and emotions through songs.”

Why Can’t We? also packs Princess Diana, George Clooney, Michael Stipe, Suede, Pavarotti, Duran Duran, Woodstock, Adam Sandler, The Rolling Stones, U2, Miley Cyrus, Calvin Klein, Zuchero, Derry Girls and Pope John Paul II into its rocking stranger-than-fiction narrative.

The Cranberries have sold over fifty million albums; won an Ivor Novello and numerous MTV awards; been honoured with their own Irish postage stamp; and had their music featured in such smash hit films and TV shows as Mission: Impossible, Click, Family Guy, Clueless, Inside Amy Schumer, Charmed, The Sopranos, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Derry Girls. The video for ‘Zombie’ has amassed over a billion YouTube streams, and along with ‘Dreams’ has passed the three million plays mark on US radio.

The power and impact of Dolores O’Riordan’s songs and the brilliant music of The Cranberries is captured magnificently in Why Can’t We? The Story Of The Cranberries and the band’s iconic frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan (As Told Through The Pages Of Hot Press).

Formats: Why Can’t We? The Story Of The Cranberries and the band’s iconic front-woman Dolores O’Riordan (As Told Through The Pages Of Hot Press) comes in two formats and can be pre-purchased now from shop.hotpress.com

HOT PRESS:
First published in 1977, Hot Press has been at the heart of the growth and development of music in Ireland. The magazine put U2 on the front cover when the band’s first EP, U23, was released in September 1979 – and the band never looked back. Neither did the magazine. Having been instrumental in the subsequent success of a plethora of world-conquering artists – including The Cranberries – Hot Press continues to fly the flag for Irish music across all genres via its monthly print edition, the hotpress.com website, and its Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok channels.

Other titles published by Hot Press Books include Covered In Glory: The Hot Press Covers Book by Niall Stokes; Philip Lynott: Still In Love With You by Niall Stokes; and the No.1 best-seller, My Boy, by Philomena Lynott and Jackie Hayden. All are available from shop.hotpress.com